The present invention relates to wagering gaming devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to variations to Keno, Lotto and Bingo games for wagering gaming machines.
Although the present invention is applicable to Keno, Lotto and Bingo, for ease of illustration, the invention is described mainly in connection with Keno and in particular gaming devices such as Video Keno games.
Early versions of American Keno used characters on the Keno ticket, rather than the numbers used today. The American game dropped the number of characters to the more familiar eighty. When gambling was legalized Nevada in 1931, the “Chinese lottery” game was referred to instead as “Horse Race Keno”, capturing the idea that the numbers are horses and the player wants the wagered horse to win, place or show. Over time the name has been shortened to simply “Keno”.
Keno is similar to a lottery game. The goal is to choose a winning number or numbers from a plurality of numbers. Most current versions of Keno have eighty numbers including the numbers one to eighty. The player can bet on any number or numbers, up to fifteen numbers, which the player does by marking or picking the selected numbers.
In older Keno games the numbers were generated using ping-pong type balls. In more modern Keno, numbers are generated via computers using random number generators. When a number is chosen, the number is shown electronically on Keno boards throughout the casino or on a video monitor of a Keno gaming device.
In live Keno, a number of Keno outlets and Keno monitors are placed in various places around a casino or gaming establishment. The player plays using a ticket and returns a winning ticket to the Keno ticket writer to redeem the win. In video Keno, the game keeps track of wins and losses via a credit display as with other types of wagering gaming machines.
Certain variations of Keno have expected returns that are dependent on a number of factors. In general, the highest award for matching all picked numbers increases as the amount of numbers the player plays increases. The frequency of winning depends for example on how few matches are needed to obtain any award. The gaming device manufacturers create a paytable for varying amounts of matches to produce a desired expected value.
Keno has been embodied in various types of gaming devices. While Keno is relatively popular in video format, a need exists to provide variations of Keno to players to make the play of both the video and casino versions of Keno more enjoyable, fun and exciting. Bonusing is one known way to increase the fun and excitement of video gaming. A need therefore exists for new bonus games operable with the game of Keno.